Thanksgiving

I guess it is finally time or me to prioritize getting up a post about my Thanksgiving weekend! I spend all day at work on the computer, I don't want to spend all night on it as well. This means my internet time is limited and I have to prioritize. Well, I am super excited about the winter reading challenge (of course), so I have been spending my breaks and lunch planning what I am going to read instead of updating my blog. But, here we go finally :-)



Last Tuesday DH and I headed off to a Thanksgiving tour of the midwest. We got off to a late start because DH had to work late. Things are VERY busy at work for him right now, and very stressful. They are testing a new project that someone else put together and it is not working at all. Anyways, we did not get on the road until nearly 9pm. MIL totally did not believe DH when he called and told her we were just leaving! Anyways, we did eventually make it to St Louis, around 3am. We also reiterated the lesson that I should drive the last leg of the trip to St Louis. DH gets lost in St Louis EVERY TIME we are there. Its funny since he spent 3 years living there and I only spent 3 months, but I guess my sense of direction is just that much better.



Anyways, Wednesay it was more driving! This time a caravan headed for Kansas. St Louis to KC I drove with MIL and FIL drove with SIL and DH. Enough acronyms? It could get worse!! Anyways, it was uneventful - too bright of a day to be driving! After KC, DH joined our car. It was good company the entire way, and went surprisingly quick. We reached Witchita around 5:30pm, where we met up with UIL... LOL Uncle in Law? Lets call him Unkin and his wife Auntin. Anyways, they arrived just before us. We went out to TGIFridays and I ate a delicious steak while Unkin interrogated SIL about her boyfriend, which was both interesting and amusing. We wiled away the rest of the evening watching Survivorman and relaxing. We determing the Survivorman technique of survival is "find fresh water and starve yourself for seven days".



Thursday - Turkey Day!! - the morning was spent in the endless shower rotation, then some more cousins visited. We headed over to the designated Turkey house around 11:30 where DH's cousins served us an excellent meal and entertained us with their adorable, and extremely energetic kids (2 and 3 years old). We spent the afternoon watching football, harrasing the kids, and playing some game. In the evening we watched Night at the Museum and Love Actually on TV.

Friday morning it was off to discover just how flat Kansas is. I thought Eastern Kansas is flat, turns out the second you get West of Witchita it gets MUCH flatter. We went out about 15 miles west of the city to visit a Hawk rescue that one of DHs uncles is involved in. It was pretty neat, we got to see about 12 different birds up close. We then headed back to TGIFridays for lunch with a couple of family members we had missed. Once that was accomplished it was into the car again, heading for the other side of the IL family. (FILs relatives are in Witchita, MILs relatives in Southeast Kansas). It was a pleasant 2 hr drive with good conversation. Down in Independence, KS we enjoyed chili and each others company.

Saturday morning DH and I took off bright and early to meet a friend from college in Springfield MO for lunch. He actually is the guy who used to live with us here in Columbus. Things are going well for him, but he is very busy with working. We made the obligatory stop at GameStop where he, as tradition goes, bought us a game - Borderlands (for Aaron actually, I am not interested). We spend the rest of the day driving back to St Louis. Saturday night we went and visited our other best friends from college, B&R. I had my first concrete from Fritz's (northern St Louis stand by), pistachio with pretzel, delicious.

Sunday featured yummy french toast made by FIL (the only time I ever have french toast is when I visit the ILs, and it is always so good. I should learn to make it!), and then back in the car. We arrived in Columbus around 7:30pm. Grim and the cats were very happy to see us.

So... the conclusion?
5 Days we were gone
5 States we drove through
3 Cities we stayed in
18 Relatives visited
3 Friends visited
1300+ miles drives